Psychological theories - Research Paper Example

Psychology of Serial Offenders Name: Institution: Psychology of Serial Offenders Abstract Criminal activities in the society continue to increase as people are labeled with names of their past mistakes. For instance, persons who have committed crimes previously in their lives tend to be labeled as ‘criminals’…

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People need to feel loved and appreciated in order for them to change from bad habits (Schur, 2001). Therefore, the society should treat people in a better way instead of labeling them. This way, persons will not feel stigmatized despite their past actions. Instead, they will even desire to change in and become better persons. Therefore, indeed labeling theory has a significant effect on the psychology of an individual. Background Most of the crimes in the world are usually owed to poverty or lack. Although it is true that individuals may commit some crimes such as theft due to lacking some materials possessions, other crimes such as murder cannot be owed to lack or insufficiency of wealth. Serial killers are mostly defined as individuals who kill more than three people within a very period. For instance, records kept of serial killers show that they killed upto three victims per day. Serial killers do not just murder their victims. Most of them rape or sodomize their victims before putting them to death. There have also been cases of killers who mutilate the bodies after the victims have died. It is for these reasons that serial killers are thought to be psychopaths who have no conscience at all. Scholars assert that serial killers mainly murder out of psychological reasons such as labeling by the society (Cote, 2002). ... In addition, they are also not individuals who will have regrets after committing their crimes. Instead, scholars assert that these individuals derive fun and pleasure from these inhuman acts. The Labeling Theory and Crime The labeling theory states that people can create an individual’s bad character when they stigmatize them (Bryant, 2012). For instance, when an individual has been charged with criminal activities, people in the society are likely to label him or her as a criminal. The labeling theory asserts that; when an individual has been labeled in a certain way in the society, they tend to start acting according to their label (Cote, 2002). In addition, when people feel they are being treated like criminals they become frustrated and filled with anger. Therefore, the only way to vent this anger is by murder, as a way of taking revenge on humans. The theory also asserts that persons that have been labeled do not have peace inside themselves. Therefore, in order to ensure that other persons are also not peaceful too, the individuals prefer to take their lives by killing them. Therefore, the key causal factor arising from labeling theory is frustration. Individuals become frustrated due to stigmatization in the society. The labeling theory asserts that when an individual has been labeled, a number of factors in him become affected and thus, he starts engaging in criminal activities. This is because; labeling significantly affects the psychology of an individual. Labeling theory and the Social Psychology of an individual The social psychology of an individual refers to his social attributes. While some individuals are born while antisocial naturally, labeling affects the
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